Baltimore Co. police charge suspect in market robbery

The Baltimore County police have arrested a man and charged him with the holdup Friday of a Super Pride in Woodmoor.

They are now trying to determine whether there is a link between the supermarket robbery and four other recent holdups, including that of a Timonium restaurant Thursday.

In all the holdups, the police said, the robbers were armed with shotguns, and because of the similarities in the descriptions of the suspects and the manner in which the businesses were robbed, investigators are exploring the possibility that the same men are responsible.

The Woodmoor Super Pride was held up twice, first on Jan. 19 and again on Friday. Another food store on Liberty Road was robbed on Jan. 28, a McDonald's Restaurant in the 3200 block of Washington Boulevard was hit on Jan. 29, and last Thursday the Chi Chi's Restaurant in Timonium was held up.

In the Chi Chi's holdup, 26 customers were robbed of their money and jewelry, the police said.

Yesterday, the police announced that they arrested a suspect Saturday in the second Super Pride robbery. Thomas Isaac Smith of the 2600 block of Ridgely Street, Southwest Baltimore, was charged with robbery and a handgun violation, said Sgt. Stephen R. Doarnberger, a police spokesman. The suspect was being held at the Towson precinct on $150,000 bond and awaiting a bail review hearing today.

The Super Pride store in the 7000 block of Liberty Road was robbed about 9 p.m. Friday by four armed men who escaped with $5,100 from the store's cash registers and a safe.